These are a few of my favorite things…

Recently, I made a whirlwind trip to the States and in addition to working longer and harder than any other twelve days in my life, and mamma-worrying constantly about my kids, I had a chance to catch up with a few old friends.  One asked me why I wasn’t writing more on this blog.  I stumbled and mumbled a few excuses about how busy and exhausted I’ve been and then I came clean.  This move has been hard.  Like, r.e.a.l hard.  Most of what I’ve been writing sounds so sad and depressing that I haven’t wanted to share it and let the record reflect it. A lot of what I’ve been thinking and feeling would be a bit of a buzz kill. As a family we are making wonderful memories and stretching ourselves in lots of directions with travel and adventure, but also experiencing our share of homesickness, culture shock and adjustment issues that come with such a big change.  I promised my friend that I would write more often, and maybe even share some of the sad bits, but that my goal was to be fully honest while staying positive.  So for today I will keep it peppy and tell you about a few of my favorite things….

Singapore was Christmas crazy!

Literally, everywhere I went from November til mid January, I saw tinsel, sparkle, lights and flashy motifs.  Even the most off-the-beaten-path shops had outdone themselves in holiday garb!  At home, I always felt as if the month of December was a mash up of celebrations, and so “Happy Holidays” was our inclusive way of recognizing that not everyone believes in Christmas.  NOT HERE AT ALL.  Everyone’s holiday happens here and much ado is made about each one.  Christmas is definitely the biggie and it seems lots of people get in on the fun whether the Christmas Story holds religious meaning for their families or not. The Christmas season felt fun, upbeat and joyful and not a bit political.  And it’s really, really hot.  Imagine Christmas lights, Christmas music and sweat rivulets at all times.  I went to a fancy Christmas Ladies Luncheon and had such a hard time finding something to wear.  All my normal holiday dresses and outfits felt too heavy, so I settled on a silk blouse and a taxi but after the walk home that blouse should have been burned.

Traditions are still traditions, even in a new place.

We bought a live(ish) tree and decorated it with the same bundle of hodge-podge ornaments we’ve been carting around and adding to bit-by-bit for 19 years.   By doing this, we connected this life of “after” to the life we’d been living in San Francisco, otherwise known as “before.“  One of the difficulties about moving that caught me off guard is the blank slate feel.  We arrived hopeful, but without a sense of what to look forward to and be excited about.  Turns out, it’s exhausting to enter each day and situation with no sense of expectation.  We are learning so much about what the calendar year looks and feels like, and beginning to relax a bit.  I had not realized that in the past when I anticipated Thanksgiving, dishes, smells, table linens and dinner guest’s faces would all subconsciously flash through my mind.  And if the event or holiday turned out a little differently, that was okay; it was just a variation of what I had been expecting.  This move made it so we expected nothing.  There was nothing to look forward to, only the present to appreciate.  And that’s good and grounding in a way, but hard to live every single day.  Now that we’ve had six months under our belts, we are beginning to feel a rhythm, and especially now that we’ve had one Christmas season to walk through, it feels somehow connected to past Christmas seasons.  My children have each celebrated a birthday here and they got to pick their breakfast and their special dinner and we dragged out the numbered candles we’ve been using since they turned one. Honoring family traditions has helped stabilize us a bit.  Even attending a Lessons and Carols service did its part to heal the hearts of our holiday homesickness. Scroll to the bottom for a glimpse of St. George’s Lessons and Carols and the opening song.)

Fresh start syndrome.

As much as the blank slate can cause me anxiety, (who am I without a full calendar?) I wouldn’t trade it away.  I’m really starting to dig my Singapore self.  Obviously, I have the same personal habits and character traits as before, but I have much more freedom to choose my actions and how to fill my days. I pace myself better here.  I am taking better care of my family and I’m being much more intentional about friendships, both keeping up with the ones from home and investing time in new ones here.  I do have a slew of lovely ladies here in Singapore that I’d like to get to know better in 2014.  There are about ten women I just know I will like, but we’ve had trouble getting on each others’ calendars.  The old Joy would feel super stressed out about this and create ridiculous scenarios to fit in a coffee, a walk, a tag team grocery shopping trip, just to make sure we got it checked off the list.  The new Joy just believes it will happen as soon as it can and relaxes into knowing that those women, or others will eventually become my people.

Acclimation

Guys, I’m not gonna lie…. it was rough in the beginning.  I felt like the four of us were spinning in different directions and I was just trying to hold onto the metal bar of the merry-go-round.  But yesterday, I had a really bad day and let a lot of anger fester for hours.  (I won’t bore you with the story, but it involved getting the total runaround about how to repair or replace this tiny remote key that is supposed to open the electronic gates to my house.  Can you think of a more boring way to spend your morning? Me neither.)  Yesterday was significant because it made me realize I am beginning to acclimate to this country and its habits because that down, blue, I-hate-the-way-Singaporeans-don’t-give-straight-answers-or-offer-helpful-suggestions sulk felt odd, like it didn’t quite fit me anymore.  It was a feeling I used to live with and now it’s a rarity.  (Except when we eat out at restaurants I usually feel it for the entire meal.  I don’t think I will ever get used to restaurant service here, so we eat at home most nights.)  Once I processed the anger away and remembered how much face-saving is at play – always and forever it’s there in the conversation and my western mind tends to forget that – I was able to brush past the experience and enjoy a night with my son.  That’s some serious acclimation, friends.

Friends who visit

Yeah, we kinda run a B&B around here.  Book your trip now or there won’t be room for you in 2014.  In the space of three months, I will only spend a handful of nights on my own in Singapore, and I am loving it.  There is nothing more fun than finally getting out and exploring my new city with people who really just want to see me happy.  When I gleefully point out a temple or a chicken rice stall that I’ve come to love, my guests are tickled pink to experience it all with me.  And it makes me happy to be here in this new life, sharing it with my old life. Somehow showing it all to someone who knows me really well helps me believe it’s really true.  I have moved to the other side of the world, see? Here are the Chinese characters on the street signs to prove it. It’s been affirming to share my new life with old friends.

The kids I brought here.

They were amazing individuals before we moved and the transition has helped them blossom even more.  I see these tall, tan, semi-adults sharing my house and creating the lives they want and I think… Wow, Singapore has grown them up.  They are both taking athletic, social and academic risks that make my head spin, but somehow they quickly realized, we’ve got this opportunity and we can make the best of it if we don’t hold back.  And they are taking the bull by the horns in every direction.  I just sit back and watch it happen and feel honored to be close to the flames.  If I were forced to give each of them a new middle name I wouldn’t hesitate; Confidence would stick.

Being in the club

No matter where we’re from or how long we’ve been here, whether we have children, or if we are blue or afraid to drive on the left, or if we work full-time, we are all living away from our home country.  The expat club is inclusive and has embraced me.  I am grateful.  I met a sweet gal named Charlotte at church recently.  She’d been here all of nine days when I walked up to say hello.  I lost track of her and bumped into her about eight weeks later and she said “Thank you for being so warm and welcoming to me when I first moved here.”  For real?  I’m already on the welcome wagon?  I can tell someone where to grocery shop, where to buy new soccer cleats and a wallet for your son that will fit the odd sizes bills.  Looks like it homies – I am an old timer round these parts!

Work

My CAbi work has been a lifeline.  When I could have stayed at home in my jammies all day watching Netflix (who am I kidding, of course I did that a few times in the Fall) I had a business to focus on.  There are CAbi consultants across the US who need me (or at least pretend to and I am grateful for their trickery!) and customers who eagerly await my return trips to San Francisco.  Guys, this is HUGE for a woman who went from an over-engaged life to a quiet one.  And CAbi has helped me meet women here.  Clothes are very expensive and cut for a smaller body, so it turns out that there’s a market here for my work.  So far, I’ve mule-d some CAbi orders back in my luggage for pals here, but time will tell how fast this business grows.

Puppies 

I might have to save this topic for a future post because there is just too much to tell.  But for now… omgoodness we adopted two of the cutetest littermates on the Earth.  Go ahead and Google “how to potty train two puppies at once” and you will know a little about what my life is like right now.

More soon from planet keeping it real and positive.

Your Singapore Joy